E-cigarettes, the latest solution to curbing tobacco smoking, has faced continuous crackdown recently. Last April, New York City banned smoking e-cigarettes in the same places where they banned tobacco smoking.

In Iowa a bill has been signed by Governor Terry Branstad last May 23, 2014 banning children under 18 years old to buy electronic cigarettes. The law didn't go without dissensions from other public servants. Douglas Beardsley, former president of Iowa Counties Public Health Association, lamented that the law has been started and promoted by the tobacco companies.  

Reports put it that this major crackdown on e-cigarettes is based on unfounded fears that the use of e-cigarettes serves as the stepping stone to smoking real tobacco in young adults, non-smokers, and even children.

Scientists and researchers on the other hand defended e-cigarette use and even asked the World Health Organization earlier last month to not classify e-cigarettes as a tobacco product.

In the letter written by 53 scientists around the globe, it is said that electronic cigarettes are "among the most significant health innovations of the 21st century." Such letter was addressed to the WHO Director General Margaret Chan.

Gerry Stimson, one of those scientists and an emeritus professor at Imperial College London, said that they should make enough noise before this would become a final ruling.

The premise that e-cigarette smoking would lead to tobacco smoking has been refuted through a study conducted by the University of Oklahoma. It was revealed that 43 out of the 1,300 college students used e-cigarettes as their nicotine-form smoke while only one of those 43 ended up smoking regular tobacco in the long run.  

Another study to support this was done by the Drexel University's School of Public Health which showed no results of contaminants that might bring about health issues.

This crackdown on e-cigarette smoking came about as a follow-up to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when the agency sent its first proposed regulations on the use of e-cigarettes.